Method of and apparatus for feeding molten glass



Oct. 20, 1931. w. A. LORENZ 1,828,726

METHODv OF AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MQLTEN GLASS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 5, 1921 Oct; 20, 1931. w. A. LORENZ 1,823,726

METHOD OF AND AfPARATus FOR FEEDING MOLTE'N GLASS Filed May s, 1921 3 SheetsSheet 2 may W. A. LORENZ Oct. 20, 1931 1,828,726

METHOD OF AND'APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MOLTEN GLASS Filed May 5, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig.7.

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Patented 1931 cglass by means of a single organized fe UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE mm A. LORENZ, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB FY MESNE ASSIGN- HEN-TB, 1'0 m'rronn-mmconm, OI HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A COB- PORATION O! DELAWARE mac!) or nu; nrm'rus iron manure momma cuss I Application fled lay a,

This invention relates to the method of and'apparatus for obtaining mold charges 0 difierent predetermined weights from a. melting furnace or other supply of molten eding machine, for delivery to a plurality of molds or glass shaping machines arranged in receiving relatlon to the feeding machine and adapted to mold or otherwise shape the charges into glassware of different weights.

The means for distributing and delivering a the charges formed by the feeder to several shaping machines forms no part of the present invention but a example of such anar rangement may be found in U. S. Patent N 0.

1,373,202 dated March 29, 1921 which discloses a single glass feedin machine arranged to distribute and deliver successive mold charges to the molds of two or more shaping machines.

One object of the present invention is to f provide a new and improved method of making glassware. of a plurality of different weights from a single supply of molten glass. A further object is to provide an apparatus for carrying this method into practical efi'ect.

. To the accomplishment of this object, the

apparatus of the present invention provides means for automatically segregating and feeding mold charges of molten glass, .vary- 'ing in size and weight in a predetermined order. suited to the successive molds or shapin: machines.

The invention contemplates the provision of a feeding machine which in one complete c cle of o eration is made to produce mold c arges 0 different weights in the order reu ired by the successive molds or shaping ma o mes.

These features of the invention and such others as may hereinafter appear will be best understood from the followin description and accompanfying drawings 0 a preferred embodiment o the apparatus, in which Fi ure 1 is a plan view of the apfparatus, showing a part of the forehearth o .a glass furnace;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section the line 22 of Fig. 1;

substantially on Fig.3 is a detail plan view taken in section 1921'. Serial m. 407,154.

on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and showing particularly the means for severing the mold charge;

F'g. 4 is a horizontal section throu h the forehearth, taken on the line 4.4 of ig. 2;

Figs. 5 and 6 are vertical sections throu h the forehearth takenon the line 5-8 of Flg. 1, showing the operation of partsof the apparatus for producing mold charges of one s1ze;-and

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are similar views showing the operations .of the parts for producing mold charges of another size.

The apparatus selected for the purpose of illustrating the invention is of that type in I which a forehearth or boot connecting with a glass furnace or any other container of molten glass, is provided with a submerged outlet and a suitable implement, such as a plunger, is arranged to cooperate with the outlet to control the discharge of glass therethmugh. m

The container for the molten glass comprises a forehearth 10 (Figs. 1 and 2) of suitable refractory material, which may form an extension from a lass melting furnace and contains a pool of molten glass flows y gravity or otherwise from the furnace. he opening from the forehearth to the pool may be restricted by a gate13 which maybe adjusted in any well known We. to regulatethe flow of glass to the pool. uitable covers 14 may be provided to close the top of the parts. 1

The glass is discharged from the pool through a submerged outlet 12 under the control of :an implement movable toward and from the outlet. In the illustrated embodiment 'of the invention'this implement is in the form of a plunger 15 of the usual relass 11 into which the fractory material, carried on the lower end of a rod 16 mounted to slide in suitable bearings formed on a standard 17. A- well 28 .be varied by changes in the relative proporthat the glass is free to flow throu h the tions of the plunger and the well, to secure the desired result.

The plunger is reciprocated by a bell crank 18 mounted on a fixe the extent of movement of the plungerunto the well may be easily adjusted, the connection between the bell crank 18 and the plunger rod 16 is made adjustable. For this purpose, the rod 16 is threaded at 20 to receive a hand wheel 22 resting onorhavinga swivel connection with a slotted block 23 en aginfi trunnions 27 on the forked end of t e be crank 18. By turning the hand wheel 22, the- A cessation in the discharge combined with a retraction of the glass in the orifice may be produced by the suctional action of the plunger as it moves upward. The retractive effect of the plunger on its upward stroke which may occur at any desired time, is illustrated in Fig. 9 in which the stub of glass dependin from the outletafter severing, has been lifte fromthe shear blades and drawn up into the outlet where it is reheated to remelt the chilled shear scar, and incor .orate it in the next mold charge. The size 0 the mold charge to be delivered depends upon the period of time opening 12 and upon the extent of t e extrusive action of the plunger when moving downwardly. With the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the extent of the extrusive action of the plunger may be varied by varying the highest position of the plunger stroke while its lowest position remains constant. It is preferred to so proportion and arrange the parts, and their tim-,

ing, that glass is extruded through the opening 12 mainly during the downward movement of the plunger so that the desired variations in the size and weight of the mold .charges maybe made by varying the length of the successive plunger strokes.

To this end the reciprocations of the plunger are controlled by a cam mechanism and in order to produce the periodic variations in the relative size of successive mold. charges, a plurality of cam members are provided, one foneaoh size "of mold charge to be dehvered, wh1ch members successively actuate the plunger 15. As illustrated in Figs. -1 and 2, the apparatus is capable of-producing in a complete cycle of operation, three difl'erent mold charges in accordance with three cam members '29, 30 and 31- for use in molds of three varying sizes. Means are pivot 19. In order that plunger 15, the

provided for independently acgusting the cam members to vary the size 0 any of the mold charges.

The cam members 29, 30 and 31 are mounted on a rotatable carrier, herein shown as a disc'32 driven by a shaft 33 worm gear 34 (Fig. 1), worm 35 and a pulley 36 connected by a belt to a suitable source of power. As the disc 32 is rotated in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 2), the cam members are successively brought in cooperation with a roll 37 mounted on the end of the vertical arm of the bell crank 18. A spring 38 holds the roll 37 against the disc 32 or cam members 29, 30 and 31 which to ether form in efiect, a cam having three lo es, each of which is independently adjustable.

Each cam member comprises an arm rotatably mounted in the disc 32 and having its free end pivota'll connected with a 1 41. The other end 0 the link carries a bolt 42 mounted to slide in a slot 43 in the disc. The toggle-like arrangement of the arm 40 and link 41 forms an adjustable cam rise projecting from the periphery of the disc 32 to an extent determined by the angular position of the arm 40. As the rise is increased to give a greater reciprocation to the plunger, the bolt 42 slides in the slot 43 and if desired, the bolt maly be tightened in adjusted position to ma c this adjustment permanent.

In order that the cam members may be independently adjusted during the operation of the machine, each arm 40 is rigidly connected with a gear 44 (but one of which is shown in Fig. 1) in mesh with a worm 45 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, mounted in a bracket 46 fixed on the disc 32. The worm is turned to vary the angle of the arm 40 by a hand wheel 47 (Fig. 1) connected with a bevel gear 48 meshing with a gear 49 on the shaft of the worm 45. The hand wheels 47 pro ect from the side of the disc 32 in such -a position that they may be conveniently grasped by the operator and turned during the rotation of the disc 32, which at ordinary speeds of operation turns slowly enough for this purpose.

.The extruded glass suspended below the outlet tends to assume a pear-shape having an attenuated neck connecting it with the glass in the outlet. The attenuation of the neck may be increased by the upward movement of the plunger 15 so that the successive mold charges or gobs may be more or'less nearly separated, ut it is preferred to pro- .vide severlng means to cut the connection between'successive gobs. For this purpose a pa1r o f shears 52 are pivotally mounted at 53 (Flg; 3) and provided with extensions connected by links 54 with one arm of a lever 55, the other arm of which is connected by a rod 56 with abell crank 57 crrying a roll 58. The roll is held in engagement with. a

. cam 59 having a number or lobes correspond- 'ing to the number. of cam "members carried by the disc 32, by a spring 60 so as to produce a shearing action for each discharge produced by the cam member.

The sheer actuating cam 59 is mounted on anddriven b the shaft 33 and in order that the timed re ation between the severing operation and the discharge of the gather may be adjusted, the drivin connection between the shear cam 59 and t e plunger actuating cam' mechanism is preferably adjustable. For this purpose the gear 34 and cam 59 may be formed integral and loosel mounted on the shaft 33. Adjustable drivm connection between the car 34 and the sha 33 is provided by a ange 62 (Fig. 1) fixed on the shaft 33 by a key 63 and connected with the gear 34: by one or more screws 64 passing throu h elongated slots in the flan e and threaded into the side of the gear. y this construction, the relation between the time of closing the shears 52'and the re'ci rocations of the plunger may be varied y loosening the screw 64 which will permit the shear cam or the plunger actuating cam to be turned independently of the other, after which the parts will again be secured in position by tightening the screw 64.

The plunger may be raised out of the control of its actuating cams, by turnin a hand wheel 65 carryinga gear 66 in mes with a rack 67 formed on the rod 16 for any desirable purpose, as to permit the glass to feed temporarily by gravity alone or to permit convenient inspection or replacement of the plunger 15. Any suitable known means (not shown) may be provided if desired to releasably secure the plunger in raised position.

The plunger 15 and the rod 16 may be cooled if desired by circulating air or any suitable fluid through a pipe 68 (Fi 2) in any well known way to prevent over eating of the parts.

The construction described provides a glass feeding machine which produces, in one complete cycle, two or more gobs or mold charges of different sizes and the size of each gob in the cycle may be independently adusted during the continuous operation of the machine. The machine may of course be adjusted to roduce a series of uniform char es if deslred. The number of diiferent size gobs produced in a cycle may be increased by'duplication of the cam members 29, and 31 to the desired extent. The

' gobs produced by this a paratus may be distributed to the molds o a plurality of mold-' ing machines by mechanism such as is shown I in the aforementioned patent, or the gobs may be delivered to a single turret having a series of molds of different sizes which are 'successively placed in receiving relation to the outlet 12 and to which gobs of appropriate size will .be delivered.

The operation of the apparatus in carrying out the ste s of this method, is shown particularly in igs. 5 and 9.. Fig. 5 shows the plunger 15 elevated to about its maximum height by the action of one of the cam members 29, 30 or 31, the cam member 29 (Fi 2) being adjusted to producesubstantia y this amount'of elevation. Fig. 6 shows the plunger at about the time of completing its extrudin stroke. These two fi ures illustrate the ormation of a large gat er from which a large mold charge will be severed by the shears 53, such, for example, as indicated at 70 in Fig. 9.

Fig. 7 shows the plunger in its elevated position when a small ,charge is to be formed. The elevation of the plunger into this position might be efi'ected by the cam member 31 with the adjustment shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 8 shows the plunger at about the time of completing its extruding stroke to form a small gather-from which a small mold charge will be severed by the shears. The upward movement of the plunger may be employed to retract the stub of glass remaining after the charge has been severed, which condition is indicated approximately in Fig. 9. The sizes of the mold charges may be varied as desired by manipulation of the hand wheels 47 and any one of the cam members may be rendered inoperative by turning the hand wheel, so as to cause the arm and the link 41 to coincide with or be retracted within the periphery of the disc 32 which will permit cam member to pass the roll 37 without actuating the plunger. I

The invention has been illustrated in connection with a feeding machine of the type employing a plunger cooperating with a submerged outlet, but the invention. in its broader scope is not limited I to this particular charge obtaining mechanism. Having disclosed the basic principles of the invention .in connection with th1s particular type of feeding machine, it is within the skill of an art1san to incorporate the broad idea of the invention in any of the well-known types of machines for obtaining mold charges f1 om a mass of molten glass.

The nature and scope of the present invention having been indicated and the several ste s in the practice of the method and one em odiment of the apparatus having been tion of the plunger, and means for independently adjusting the cam members during the operation of the apparatus.

2. In apparatus for feeding molten glass, a glass container having a discharge outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard discharge ofglass through the outlet, and a cam having a contact portion for operating said implement, said contact portion being adjustable both angularly and radially in respect to the axis of rotation of the cam.

3. In apparatus for feeding molten glass, a glass container having a submerged outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard discharge of glass through the outlet, and a. cam for operating said implement, said cam comprising a carrier and a cam lobe comprising a pair of cooperative sections pivotally connected together at their adjacent ends, one of said sections being pivotally connected to the carrier and the other section being pivotally and slidably connected with the carrier whereby said cam lobe can be adjusted on the carrier to vary the extent of the portion thereof that projects beyond the periphery of the carrier.

4. In apparatus for feeding molten glass, a glass container having a discharge outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard the discharge of glass through the outlet, a cam having a plurality of cam lobes, each adapted to cause a reciprocation of said implement, and means for adjusting said cam lobes angularly about the axis of rotation of the cam to vary the time intervals between successive reciprocations of the implement;

5. In apparatus for feeding molten glass in mold charges, a glass container having-a discharge outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard the discharge of glass through the outlet, means for operating said implement in successive cycles with a plurality of reciprocations of the implement occurring ineach cycle and with the time intervals between successive reciprocations of the implement in each cycle irregular to vary the weight of the quantities of glassdischarged through the outlet on successive.reciprocations of the implement, and means for severing a mold charge from the discharged glass for each reciprocation of the implement.

6. In qlass feeding apparatus, a glass con tainer having a discharge outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard the discharge of glass through the outlet, means for operating said implement in successive cycles, each comprising a plurality of reciprocations of the implement, means for severinga mold charge from the discharged glass for each reciprocation" of the implement, and.

' implement movable toward and receptor means for adjusting said implement operat? ing means to vary 1n each cycle the re ative durations of successive reciprocations'of the implement to vary the sizes of the corresponding mold charges,

7. In glass feeding apparatus, a container for the glass having a dischar e outlet, an

om the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard discharge of glass through the outlet, means for operating said implement in cycles, each comprising a plurality of unequal reciprocations of the implement, means for severing mold charges from discharged glass for each re? ciprocation of the implement, and means for varying the timed relation between the reciprocations of the implement of each cycle and the corresponding severing operations for that cycle.

8. The method of feeding molten glass from a delivery outletof a glass container in mold char es in successive cycles, each cycle covering t e discharge of a lurality of successive masses of indepn ently regulable sizes, which comprises accelerating and retarding discharge of glass through the outlet a plurality of times in each cycle, regulating the relative sizes of the respective masses cycle and in each subsequent cycle by regulatingwthe time intervals between successive periods of accelerated and retarded discharge in a cycle, and severing a mold charge from each of said discharged masses.

- of glass discharged through the outlet in that 9. The method of feeding molten glass from a delivery outlet of a glass container in mold charges in successive cycles, each cycle covering the discharge of a plurality of successive masses of independently regulable sizes, which comprises accelerating and retarding discharge of glass through the outlet a plurality of times in each cycle, regulating the relative sizes of the respective masses of glass discharged through the outlet in that cycle and in each subsequent cycle by regulating the durations of the period's of accelerated and retarded discharge in a cycle, and serving a mold'charge from each of such discharged masses.

10. The method of feeding molten glass from a delivery outlet of a glass container .in .mold charges in successive cycles, each cycle covering the discharge of a plurality of successive masses of independently regulable sizes, which comprises accelerating and retarding discharge of glass through the outlet by moving an implement in the glass toward and from the outlet a plurality of times in each cycle, regulating the relative sizes of the respective masses of glass discharged through the outlet in that cycle and in each subsequent cycle byregulating the length of the strokes of the implement and the durations of the periodsof accelerated and retarded discharge in a cycle, and severing a mold charge from each of such discharged masses.

11. The method of feeding molten glass from a delivery outlet of a glass container in mold charges in successive cycles, each cycle covering the discharge of a plurality of successive masses of independently regulable sizes, which comprises accelerating and retarding discharge of glass through the outlet a plurality of times in each cycle, regulating the relative sizes of the respective masses of glass'discharged through the outlet in that cycle and in each subsequent cycle by regulating the durations of the periods of accelerated discharge in a cycle, and severing a mold charge from each of such discharged masses.

12. The method of feeding molten glass from a delivery outlet of a glass container in mold charges in successive cycles, each cycle covering the discharge of a plurality of successive masses of independently regulable sizes, which comprises accelerating and retarding discharge of glass through the outlet a plurality of times in each cycle, regulating the relative sizes of the respective masses of glass discharged through the outlet in that cycle and in each subsequent cycle by regulating the durations of the periods of retarded discharge in a cycle, and severing a mold charge from each of such discharged masses.

13. In glass feeding apparatus a container for the glass having a submerged outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard discharge of glass through the outlet, and means for actuating said implement to periodically accelerate and retard flow'of glass through the outlet, said actuating means being adjustable while in operation to vary the duration of a period of reciprocation of the implement-without varying the time interval between the component strokes of that reciprocation.

14. In glass feeding apparatus, a container for the glass having a submerged outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard discharge of glass through the outlet, and

the outlet, said actuating means being adj ustable while in operation to vary the duration of the retarding stroke in a reciprocation of the implement.

16. In glass feeding apparatus, a container for the glass having a submerged outlet, an implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard discharge of glass through the outlet, and means for actuating said implement to periodically accelerate and retard flow of glass through the outlet, said actuating means being adjustable while in operation to vary the duration of the accelerating stroke in a reciprocation of the im lement.

Signed at of May, 1921.

WILLIAM A. LORENZ.

means for actuating said implement to pe-,

riodically accelerate andretard flow of glass through the outlet, said actuating means being adjustable while'in operation to simultaneously vary both the duration of a period of reciprocation of the implement and the length of a stroke of the implement during that reciprocation.

15. In glass feeding apparatus, a container 7 for the glass having a submerged outlet, an

implement movable toward and from the outlet to periodically accelerate and retard discharge of glass through the outlet, and means for actuating said implement to periodically accelerate and retard flow of glass through artford, Conn., this 4th day 

